[Citizenship Amendment Act] Supreme Court issues directions for pleas to be compartmentalised; to be heard on October 31

The Supreme Court on Monday issued a slew of directions to compartmentalise a batch of pleas challenging the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA) for ease of advancing submissions by counsel..A Bench of Chief Justice of India UU Lalit and Justice S Ravindra Bhat adjourned the case while directing the Central government to file its response within four weeks of the compartmentalisation." ... as projected by various learned counsel appearing for the parties, the matters need to be put in different segments so that the submissions can easily be advanced and confined to the challenges arising in respect of such segments.".In this regard, the Bench directed for a complete list of cases pertaining to the issue to be prepared by the Solicitor General of India (SG), after which the same would be segregated. Further, it was ordered that on the response by the Central government being filed, the lead case would be demarcated and convenience compilations would be prepared."This part of exercises be completed after 2 weeks of the Union's responses" the judges orally stated. With this, the case was listed for directions on October 31, 2022..The Assam and Tripura governments, as well as counsel for petitions arising from the two States, were directed to complete their pleadings within three weeks. Notices were also issued in the pleas where the same was not done earlier. .The CAA, which was passed on December 12, 2019, amends Section 2 of the Citizenship Act of 1955 which defines “illegal migrants”. It has added a new proviso to Section 2(1)(b). As per the same, persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, and who have been exempted by the Central government under the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920, or the Foreigners Act, 1946, shall not be treated as “illegal migrant”. Consequently, such persons shall be eligible to apply for citizenship under the 1955 Act.The CAA specifically excluded the Muslim community from the proviso, triggering protests across the country and a slew of petitions were filed in the Supreme Court.The petitioners challenging the law have submitted that the CAA discriminates against Muslims on the basis of religion. Such religious segregation is without any reasonable differentiation and violates right to quality under Article 14, it has been contended..Amid nationwide protests against the legislation, the Supreme Court in January 2020 had issued notice in a batch of over 140 petitions, without staying the Act. The Court had later hinted that the matter may be heard by a Constitution Bench, but no order was passed to that effect.In response to the pleas, the Central government had said that the CAA is a "benign legislation" which has a narrow purpose and ought not be conflated beyond the legislative intent..[Read order].[Read our live coverage of the hearing below]